by Marian Keyes
Mannix and Shep walk on a few metres. I throw the stick and it accidentally hits Mannix.
‘Ow!’ he yelps.
I double over, laughing. ‘It was the breeze, blame the breeze.’
‘I forgive you.’ Mannix comes back and pulls me to him and Shep noses himself between the two of us.
This is my life now.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Louise Moore, the best publisher in the world, for her unwavering faith in me and this book. Thank you to Celine Kelly for editing me with such verve and insight. Thank you to Clare Parkinson for the painstaking, meticulous copy-editing. Thank you to Anna Derkacz, Maxine Hitchcock, Tim Broughton, Nick Lowndes, Lee Motley, Liz Smith, Joe Yule, Katie Sheldrake and all the team at Michael Joseph. I feel very lucky to be working with such brilliant people.
Thank you to my legendary agent, Jonathan Lloyd, and everyone at Curtis Brown for believing in my books and taking such beautiful care of them.
Thank you to my friends who read the book as it was written and who advised and encouraged me: Bernice Barrington, Caron Freeborn, Ella Griffin, Gwen Hollingsworth, Cathy Kelly, Caitríona Keyes, Mammy Keyes, Rita-Anne Keyes, Mags McLoughlin, Ken Murphy, Hilly Reynolds, Anne Marie Scanlon and Rebecca Turner.
Special thanks to Kate Beaufoy, who held my hand every step of the way, and Shirley Baines and Jenny Boland, whose runaway enthusiasm let me know I was on the right path.
Thank you to Paul Rolles, who made a generous donation to Action Against Hunger to have his name included as a character.
In order to understand Guillain-Barré Syndrome, I read Bed Number Ten by Sue Baier and Mary Zimmeth Schomaker, The Darkness Is Not Dark by Regina R. Roth and No Laughing Matter by Joseph Heller and Speed Vogel.
Thank you to the wonderful Elena and Mihaela Manta at Pretty Nails, Pretty Face, who inspired me to write about a beauty salon – although I need hardly state that Pretty Nails, Pretty Face is nothing like Honey Day Spa!
Finally, thank you to my beloved husband and best friend, Tony, for all the encouragement, help, support and belief in me – there are no words to adequately express my gratitude.
THE BEGINNING
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PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
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First published 2014
Copyright © Marian Keyes, 2014
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-718-17957-1
Table of Contents
Me
Friday, 30 May
Saturday, 31 May
Sunday, 1 June
Monday, 2 June
Tuesday, 3 June
Wednesday, 4 June
Thursday, 5 June
Friday, 6 June
Monday, 9 June
Tuesday, 10 June
Him
Her
Me
Wednesday, 11 June
Thursday, 12 June
A Year Later
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